Snow blowers are machines that facilitate rapid snow removal. They can be essential for removing snow from driveways, sidewalks, roads, paths and the like. Unlike plows, instead of pushing the snow, snow blowers throw the snow a substantial distance away from the area where it is not wanted, minimizing the accumulation of snow banks. Typically, these snow blowers operate by using auger style blades to transmit snow into fan style blades, which throws the snow through a chute away from the snow blower.
A variety of snow blower devices exist. In some cases, these devices may be guided by hand and may be sized similar to a walk-behind lawn mower. In other cases, larger versions of these snow blowers are mounted to tractors at the rear, and utilize a power take off (PTO) shaft that takes power from the engine to drive the snow blower. In yet other cases, the snow blowers may be connected to the front of the tractor and powered by a hydraulic system. In other cases, snow blowers may be mounted to the front of non-tractor vehicles, and powered utilizing a PTO shaft.
Snow blowers guided by hand are much smaller than those mounted to vehicles, and they require a great deal of time and physical exertion to clear a large area. Rear tractor-mounted snow blowers are difficult to use because they must be used when the tractor is in reverse. Further, these rear mounted units are cumbersome to attach and set up, and require the tractor engine to be operated at high revolutions per minute (RPM) to achieve effective snow removal. This increases fuel consumption and causes wear and tear on the engine. Front mounted hydraulic snow blowers are often highly expensive, pricing out all but large industrial operations. Further, front mounted hydraulic systems are very difficult to mount and set up, often taking upward of eight hours to install with specialized equipment and skills, and are subject to frequent hydraulic leaking.
Attempts have been made to effectively mount snow blowers to tractors. One such attempt is found in United States Patent Pub. No. 2007/0062076 filed by Majkrzak on Sep. 19, 2005, and published on Mar. 22, 2007 for a “Concentric Axis Snow Blower Attachment.” Majkrzak discloses a snow blower attachment that includes a concentric axis fan and auger. The fan and auger are independently powered by respective hydraulic motors.
Another attempt is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,668, issued to Gustafson et al. on Jan. 30, 2001 for an “Apparatus and Method for Connecting an Implement to a Traction Vehicle.” The Gustafson et al. device discloses an implement mounted at a first end of a vehicle and an engine mounted at a second end of the vehicle. A support structure extends between the two ends and supports a drive shaft assembly
Yet another attempt is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,237 issued to Johnson on Dec. 31, 2002 for a “Snow Blower.” The Johnson device discloses a snow blower that augers snow scraped from a path to a fan. The fan is co-axial with the auger at one end of an auger housing. A fan shaft extends through an auger tube. The fan shaft is supported on one end by a fan housing bearing in the auger tube. The auger is supported at one end by a drive housing bearing attached to the housing, and at the other end by a bearing on the fan shaft.
None of these known attempts at producing an effective snow blower device have overcome the above-noted disadvantages. It is therefore desirable to provide a front mounted tractor snow blower that is affordable, easy to set up, and easy to use.